


Reunion

by crypticMyriad



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angels, Bittersweet, Cute things, F/M, M/M, POV First Person, Reunions, i'm very bad at tagging stuff, or at lease kind of depending how you look at it oops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-08
Updated: 2014-04-08
Packaged: 2018-01-18 17:06:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1436158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crypticMyriad/pseuds/crypticMyriad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"So when do you think they'll finally come to terms with it?"</i>
</p><p>  <i>A sudden, soft voice snaps me out of my trance, and I turn my head to look up from my seat on my fluffy perch. Immediately I recognize the face, feminine and kind as always. The woman tucks some stray hair behind her ear, taking a seat beside me. Petra.</i></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Aka I cried writing this and can't name things to save my life.<br/>Petra's Side is being worked on as we speak.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> I suggest listening to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EhpogOlbN4 while reading.

"So when do you think they'll finally come to terms with it?"

A sudden, soft voice snaps me out of my trance, and I turn my head to look up from my seat on my fluffy perch. Immediately I recognize the face, feminine and kind as always. The woman tucks some stray hair behind her ear, taking a seat beside me. Petra. Her wings, one a light shade of blue and the other a pure, untouched white folding against her back to avoid pressing awkwardly into my shoulder.

Honestly, with her closeness, it does anyway. I take a moment to stare, still envious, secretly, when reminded of my own bland white ones, but then I remember she and other members of the Scouting Legion had asked specifically for it. To honor their Leaders. Man, I wish I had the courage to speak to the head angel like that.

I must have looked confused when her eyes met mine, still hanging on the question, because she elaborates immediately, "I mean, do you think they'll ever move on?"

_Oh._

I return my gaze to the view of the world below us, imagery rippling to form scenes like waves in a pond. Its the place we can go to look after our loved ones once we pass on, serving to ease the nerves of new angels. Its been a year, earth time, but I still find myself checking up on him daily.

"I 'unno. Jean still carries around that silly bone." I haven't got the heart to tell him its actually from another corpse. Mina's, if I recall correctly. Not that he'd listen even if he could hear me. He was always stubborn and brash about things like this, "What about Levi. How's he doing?"

Petra's immediately blushing beside me, fidgeting with her hands as she stares down into the 'pond'. "I think he's regretting giving my patch to someone else. He looks more tired than usual lately. I'm worried.."

I give her a smile, placing a hand down gently on her shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze. We grow quiet for a moment, staring down into the depths of the same window to the living world, but seeing completely different scenes. You see, the view is different for everyone, fluctuating between loved ones of whoever is looking into it. It keeps things private, and much more personal.

She's the first to break the silence, humming in thought for a moment before she finally opens her mouth to speak, "So, what's going on Jean's end?”

I give a breathless laugh as I observe from my end. The scene going on before me is one I’m not a stranger to. Jean and a brunet I recognize as Eren are yelling at each other, words that I can’t hear, but it must be ridiculous as I can recognize Sasha and Connie as well, edging on the corner of my vision as they laugh. 

Its strange how little things have changed.

“He’s fighting again. Its good to see he hasn’t changed.” It makes my heart clench painfully, and I have to raise my hand to grip the area so I can quell it. I want to be down there, fighting alongside him like we had promised. Its selfish of me, but I can’t help it.

Arms wind around me, and I lean into the hug, Petra’s voice quiet and motherly as she begins a rocking motion. This has become normal for us, comforting each other while we wait for the day we can see them again.

I manage a smile through tears, which I hadn't even felt until the gesture, face pressed into her delicate shoulder. She reminds me of my own mom.

“Levi’s definitely lucky he found you,” I say, and I mean it.

She pulls back, a little surprised, but she’s smiling shyly as well, “You really think so?”

“Definitely.”

“I think Jean’s lucky, too.” 

There’s a pang of doubt in my head that gives way to another dull ache in my chest and I curl my off-white, speckled wings around myself, preening the feathers nervously. However her words give me hope and I cling to it when smile back at her, “I hope so.”

We fall into another silence, comfortable as it stretches on for what feels like hours. My gaze directs itself to the image of Jean. His smile looks tired, but its still a smile, and my heart flutters in my chest when he looks up, because I swear it feels like he’s staring at me.

\--~--~--~--~--

A month later and we’re both being summoned by one of the higher-ranked angels, a gnawing worry in the pit of my stomach as I piece together what it could mean when they tell us that we’re to retrieve loved one’s, guiding them back to our realm safely.

You see, when possible, if someone dies their spirit is to be looked after by someone close to them. It helps calm them, and the reunion is something that makes everything worth it.

We accept and head off together because we both have a feeling already that we know what happened. Someone I’ve met only briefly who introduced herself as Eren’s mother is also being sent out, and that can only mean one thing.

Our descent back reveals almost immediately a wrecked battleground, and I wish Petra a good luck before I’m running off, worry mixing with excitement as I begin my search the moment my feet touch the ground. Wings tuck themselves neatly against my shoulder, and I resist the urge to curl them protectively around myself as I glance around the terrain.

I’m both grateful and terrified when my search for Jean ends sooner than expected, a soft murmuring catching my attention even though groans and wails and crying is filling the air. The whole situation makes me nauseous, but all that matters is that pained whispering that leads me stumbling over rubble of what once was a 50-Meter wall.

The sight of Jean, half-propped up against a rather large piece of concrete and looking rather bloodied and broken, made me pause, one hand clapping over my mouth to quiet the wail that rose in my throat. 

I had to swallow a few times to force it back down, gulping a few deep, unneeded breaths to try and calm myself. I had to be strong for him, now. 

I hoped Petra had found Levi in better condition.

In my initial shock, the soft, pained gasp of my name almost passed my ears unnoticed. But it wasn’t.

“Mar...co?”

“Jean--” I broke off to stop the sob.

Gotta be strong for him.

“Marco!”

He’s seemed to gather some clarity when he says my name again, scrambling for purchase as he tries to pull himself out of the body that was once Jean Kirschtein of the Survey Corps. And he’s still Jean Kirschtein, just he’s my Jean again as I sprint to his side, placing fingers on his shoulder and telling him to calm down and take the situation slowly.

I don’t know if he’s listening, but the moment I’m touching him he seems to relax enough so that he’s sinking back into his shell of a body, so I gently urge him to try again before he loses whatever progress he’s already struggled to get.

Its like watching a baby bird push out of an egg, really, all patience and wiggling and pushing outward, and its obviously tiring, but within an hour he’s pulling his last leg out and the scene has just shrunk to me and him as I laugh when he messes up and sinks back in.

He huffs but he’s laughing too, even if it sounds tired.

It feels like we never parted, but then he’s fully out when I take hold of both his hands and give him a little tug. He pitches forward and I’m falling backward and when he lands on me my arms wrap around him.

Suddenly we’re crying, and my heart breaks at the unmasked pain that laces his words, a way he only spoke to me, when he’s sobbing “I missed you,” and “Thank God,” over and over again, saying my name over and over with each sentence.

I don’t know exactly what to say back, so I tilt his head up and catch his lips in a soft kiss, something he returns a little too eagerly and I have to pull back when I start giggling.

“I missed you too.”


End file.
